VMWare announced a new public beta for its ACE 2 Enterprise Edition product. What makes this latest version of VMWare's virtualization product most attractive for I.T. administrators is that it offers features that allow virtual desktops to be centrally managed. I.T. policies can be set that will allow the packaging and deployment of virtual machines to managed and unmanaged PCs.

If that feature doesn't entice you to give this application a trial run, then perhaps the new desktop mobility feature will do it. The new desktop mobility feature called Pocket ACE allows a desktop virtual machine to be loaded on a USB flash drive, portable hard drive, or Apple iPod. To access the desktop virtual machine, a user simply needs to plug his or her media device into a licensed PC or laptop.

VMWare ACE 2 Enterprise edition is offered as a public beta for Linux and Windows users and is available via the VMWare website. The product will be released officially in the second quarter of this year. At that time, pricing will also be announced.

BRIAN'S OPINION
Being able to centrally manage virtual desktop environments and push them out is a great feature. It opens up all sorts of new possibilities when it comes to using virtualization within the enterprise. In the past, the biggest drawback to virtualization has been the inability to manage virtual desktops via a central console.

The new feature of putting a virtual desktop on a USB drive or other portable media device is hot! Now, you can go to any other licensed desktop and still be assured that you can access your virtual machine. That has to be pretty nice for testing and lab environments.

I encourage enterprise users to give this new product a whirl especially while it is being offered as a public beta. I've always found that by “playing” with new products I can come up with new solutions for ongoing enterprise issues. Virtualization offers new possibilities for enterprise environments; the least of which is eliminating multiple computers under the desks of users.